Tuesday, July 8, 2008

I'm Back with Bread Pudding!

After a fun and crazy week in our old stomping grounds, Chicago, I’m back and ready to catch up. The weekend was a fun one filled with sunshine, good times with friends and LOTS of food. We made a point to visit many of our old haunts and favorite food spots-- cheap, yummy Thai food being the #1 victim of our hunger. Oh, and how can you not love such a gorgeous city? For inquiring minds, the tall building in the middle is Trump's latest monstrosity which is coming together quite nicely.

Though I spent the entire weekend drowning in gluttony, swearing to never eat again, my first post back is one of our favorite gluttonous treats: bread pudding.

Bread pudding is a strange one. Definitely one of my favorite desserts, but one with such a mediocre name. French Silk Pie… Tiramisu… even Mississippi Mud Pie conjure up images of deliciously sinful treats. Ones with sexy names.

Bread pudding, on the other hand, sounds like something probably served at the local Hometown Buffet.Cinnamon Bread Pudding

Well, sexy or not bread pudding is amazingly delicious and though it may contain enough calories to last you a week, its worth it. I’ve used this recipe with a variety of breads, usually whatever’s leftover and I’ve had success with all experiments thus far. Cinnamon Raisin bread and whole wheat baguettes have historically turned out the best. Try it with your leftover, stale bread and let me know what you like! Off to go catch up on all the delicious blog posts I've missed out on.....

Cinnamon Bread Pudding with Warm Vanilla Bourbon Sauce

8 slices cinnamon raisin bread cubes, crusts removed (an equivalent amount of day old whole wheat baguette works well too)
1/4 cup raisins
1 tbsp butter
½ cup mini chocolate chips
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup low fat evaporated milk
3/4 cup skim milk
1/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs, beaten
dash of rum

Warm Vanilla Bourbon Sauce

1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk and 3 tbsp milk mixed with 2 tsp cornstarch
1 tablespoon Bourbon whiskey
1 tablespoon vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a round 9 inch cake pan.

2. Cut cinnamon raisin bread into medium sized cubes and arrange evenly in cake pan.

3. In a small frying pan over medium heat, sauté the raisins with a dash of cinnamon in a tbsp of butter until soft. Toss raisins and chocolate chips with bread cubes.

4. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine sugars, milk, 1 tbsp cinnamon and butter. Stir until butter is melted. Allow to cool slightly and stir in vanilla. Temper the eggs by adding a few tablespoons of the butter sauce to the eggs. (This step raises the temperature of the eggs to prevent ‘scrambling!’) Add eggs to butter mixture and pour over bread cubes.

5. Create a water bath by filling a large baking pan with sides with ½ inch of water. Place cake pan in water bath & cover cake pan with foil. Bake in preheated oven 40 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 10 minutes uncovered.

Vanilla Bourbon Sauce
6. After replacing the bread pudding in the oven to finish cooking, prepare the Bourbon sauce.

7. Whisk together 3 tbsp milk and cornstarch in a small bowl. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once butter is melted, add Bourbon and sugar and stir constantly until boiling. Slowly add cornstarch mixture to thicken the sauce. Continue cooking until thick, stirring constantly. Remove from heat when thick.

8. After removing bread pudding from oven, pour Bourbon sauce over the bread pudding. Let sit 5 minutes before serving to allow sauce to flavor the bread pudding. The sauce will continue to thicken and form a beautiful glaze over the bread pudding.

30 comments:

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Welcome back!! I'll be in Chicago in August, so it's fun to read that you were just there :0)

Oh. my. goodness. That bread-pudding sounds and looks sinfully decadent (in other words, perfect)!!

Anonymous said...

Okay that sounds addictive! My goodness vanilla borbon saauce...heaven.

Glad you had a great weekend.

eatingclubvancouver_js said...

Bread pudding is one of my guilty pleasures. I must admit that previous visits to a Hometown Buffet was only made bearable with their mediocre bread pudding. I love yours! Looks like it's worth being guilty about. ;)

Shreya said...

Hi, I am new to your blog and I really like your style. This bread pudding looks delicious.

La Bella Cooks said...

Bread pudding always smells amazing when it is baking, doesn't it?
I always make an amaretto sauce for my panettone bread pudding. i'd rather just eat the sauce ;)

Anonymous said...

This sounds delightful. I never really liked bread pud until a friend made a whiskey one (on R2S, of course)& now I adore it! This looks great & your trip sounded fun.

Maura said...

That looks soooo good! Is bread pudding something you eat in Chicago? I've always thought of it as a southern/New Orleans thing.

Just stumbled on your blog and it looks fantastic!

Sarah said...

I love bread pudding too, there is something magical about the warm and gooey pudding with the spiked bourbon sauce.
I look forward to trying your version.

Sharon said...

veggiegirl - thanks! Have a great time in Chicago. It's always so fun there.

noble pig - vanilla bourbon sauce is my downfall. I could mayberesist this otherwise!

eating club - Sometimes buffets are able to pull off good bread pudding, but they look nasty sitting in the warmers!

shreya - thanks for stopping by!

bridgett - I still want to try your panettone bread pudding. I can't even imagine how good it'd be.

recipes2share - how can you resist whiskey? :)

anonymous new york - I eat desserts from all regions :) I think that you're right in that not many restaurants serve bread pudding in the midwest but I think its catching on.

Clumbsy Cookie said...

You're right, bread pudding is not seen as glamorous, but sure is good. I like to do cake pudding as weel (with leftover cake), it's so good and sweet!
That one looks great!

Anonymous said...

I just love bread pudding and used to have my favorite bread pudding from a vendor at the Port Angeles, WA farmers market. Since I moved back home to CA, I miss him and his pudding greatly. Now I'll have to make some on my own with your recipe.
Will ya be sharing some pics of your trip? I love pic's!

Katie said...

I love bread pudding! And your blog :)

Elle said...

Welcome back! I'm glad you had a great time. And I love bread pudding! LOVE it.

Leslie said...

Oh Chicago is one of my favorite cities of all!!! And bread Pudding...oh my!

Anonymous said...

oh that looks so gooey and fabulous! Off to bookmark this to make, very soon.

Jenny said...

I've always wanted to visit Chicago, it looks like so much fun!

Your bread pudding looks absolutely delectable! Wish I could dig right in!

Prudy said...

Welcome back-that stuff looks dangerously addictive!

grace said...

sometimes bread pudding turns me off. this is not one of those times. lovely.
glad you had a fun little vacation!

Sharon said...

clumbsy cookie - that's an amazing idea! What could be more sinful than cake bread pudding? :)

white on rice - bread pudding from a farmer's market has gotta be delicious. Most of my pics are from our boat trip. I'm not sure my gals would appreciate their swimsuit photos on the web, but I'll be sure to post some pics with clothing :0

katie - thanks so much!!

elle - me too, me too. I could eat it all day.

leslie - Chicago and bread pudding are two great things!

kristen - let me know how it turns out!

jenny - if you've never been, you should definitely go. SO much good food everywhere.

prudy - if you have a sweet tooth, it definitely is!

grace - glad it doesn't gross you out! :)

Anonymous said...

This looks absolutely amazing! Ohh, I am beginning to crave some:) This is a must try!

Emily said...

The bread pudding looks yummy. I would love to have a taste! Especially with the vanilla bourbon sauce...I would drink that.

Amanda, Mandy, Manda, Tomato said...

Mmmmm...I have got to try this! Minus the raisins though. :)

The John said...

This looks so good! I am going to try it for sure! Anything with bourbon is good

Anonymous said...

I'm not much a bread pudding guy, but that looks so moist and delicious I might just have to give it a try.

test it comm said...

That bread pudding looks so moist and good!

Anonymous said...

I love bread pudding! This one looks really good, especially with that sauce all over! :)

tigerfish said...

Your bread pudding is loaded with ingredients! Must be delicious.

MrOrph said...

Never done a bread pudding, but you know what, I have a three day old brioche loaf in there begging for this recipe!

This looks decadent

Peabody said...

Mmm, bread pudding is my all time favorite. This one looks great.

Dazy said...

My elder son is coming home next week from hostel. He is a fan of pudding. I think this would be just perfect him. This sounds so tasty. And would keep me busy in the kitchen, again.